Mexican nationalism on the borderland

The nationalist sentiment that arose in the border area of ​​Mexico with the United States before the revolution responds to two different conjunctures. The first took place at the end of the 19th century, when large American mining companies, smelters (ASARCO) and especially railroad (The Santa Fe Railroad Co. and Southern Pacific), began to hire a significant number of labor. By 1909, thousands of Mexicans had settled in border towns. The second was the Maderista revolution. With the movement led by Francisco L Madero, wealthy families from the north of Mexico sought refuge in El Paso, Texas and other cities in the United States where armed struggle ceased.

However, as the Mexican working class and oligarchy were segregated by Anglo-American politics and culture, they strengthened their ties with Mexico and thus created a nationalism from abroad. It merged the culture of the immigrants with that of the exiles.

The scenarios used for the expression of this nationalist sentiment penetrated almost all the spaces of social life: religious, educational, cultural and recreational; Patriotic citizenship, communication and commerce, and of course that of politics. Although in the United States both groups had found refuge, work and chances of survival, in Mexico, where they fled, was the motherland.

What is the MUREF?

The Museum of the Revolution on the Borderland (MUREF) is part of a 121 museums network, operated by INAH throughout the country and has a scheme of work with the civil society through the Friends of the MUREF Board, an organism of the National Institute Of Anthropology and History. The Museum of the Revolution on the Border shows the historical events that took place in Ciudad Juarez during the first two decades of the 20th century during the revolutionary movement against Porfirio Díaz. Through 9 thematic areas of exhibition, the MUREF shows why the Juarenses are heirs and legitimate representatives of a past with prestige.